Nuke-Powered USS Enterprise Boldly Went Where No Aircraft Carrier Went Before

There isn't another active warship on the planet with a comparable legacy. The USS Enterprise first saw action during the Cuban Missile Crisis, tasked with stopping Soviet ships from reaching Fidel Castro's shores, and on November 4, returned to its Norfolk, Virginia home after supporting the Afghanistan war. In between, Enterprise participated in most of the major national-security events in its five decade history. Oh, and it made history as well: the Enterprise is the first ever nuclear aircraft carrier. There's a reason Gene Rodenberry named a certain Starfleet craft after her.

All that comes to a dignified conclusion Saturday December 1, when the Navy formally retires the USS Enterprise after 51 years of service. "Though CVN-65 will be 'inactivated', the Enterprise fighting spirit lives on in her crew and in their families -- past and present -- and in the remarkable legacy of service this ship has rendered this nation," says Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy's top information officer. Here are some highlights from the "Big E"s years at sea.

Photo: U.S. Navy

Commissioning and Trials, 1958-61

"I think we hit the jackpot," said George W. Anderson, Jr in October 1961. Three years after Enterprise's keel was laid at Newport News, Va. and one year after it entered service, the 94,000-ton carrier broke a speed record in its first sea trials. The Navy's official history of the ship records that the Enterprise "literally outran her destroyer escort" and outperformed every heavy combatant the Navy had. (.PDF) It also proved the concept that nuclear power could be a maritime game-changer, and no one was happier than Anderson, the Navy's chief officer. Adm. Anderson didn't just hit the jackpot with Enterprise, he broke the bank: the "Big E" cost the equivalent of $3.3 billion in contemporary cash, preventing the Navy from building the other five vessels that were supposed to be in her class.

Photo: U.S. Navy

The Enterprise in the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962

She was barely at sea two years before her trial by fire came. John F. Kennedy ordered the Enterprise to take part in the naval blockade of Cuba during thirteen days of confrontation with the Soviet Union that risked a nuclear holocaust. With speed a priority, the world's only nuclear carrier left Norfolk with only part of her air wing aboard, with jets touching down as she raced toward Cuba. By the height of the blockade, Enterprise had more than 100 planes on her deck, and before Halloween, she watched Soviet ships steam eastward as the crisis passed.

Photo: U.S. Navy

The Enterprise Ablaze, 1969

On January 14, 1969, a Zuni rocket fell off one of the deck's F-4 jets, setting the carrier on fire. The commanding officer's official history details only: "Explosions on flight deck. 27 dead, 62 hospitalized. CINCPACFLT [the Pacific fleet commander] inspected fire damage."

Photo: U.S. Navy

The Enterprise in the Vietnam War, 1965-75

December 2, 1965 marked the first time a nuclear carrier engaged in combat, as Attack Carrier Air Wing Nine "launched 118 sorties against the Viet Cong in South Vietnam," according to Navy records. What the Navy records as a "relentless campaign" against transport networks, barges, storage areas and other infrastructure in North Vietnam continued for the rest of the month. And it would repeat five more time, as Enterprise's last deployment to Vietnam came a decade later.

Photo: U.S. Navy

The Afghanistan War, 2001

Enterprise was off the Yemeni coast on September 11, 2001. Her official history records that she "immediately turned and was the first U.S. vessel on station in the North Arabian Sea," ready for combat operations in Afghanistan the next day. Bombing operations off her deck routinely lasted 15 hours every day, ultimately totaling 60-80 daily sorties in the first 17 days of what would become the U.S.' longest war. Her airwing dropped 829,150 lbs. of ordnance before steaming through the Suez Canal on October 28.

Photo: Getty

Enterprise Loses A Captain to Dumb Movies, 2011

Imagine if Michael Scott from The Office was your executive officer. That was basically how Owen Honors spent his time, from 2005 to 2007, as the Enterprise's second-in-command: making bro-y, amateurish videos poking fun at "chicks in the shower," calling Surface Warfare Officers "fags" and threatening to let his robe fly open for the camera. "XO Movie Night" ultimately cost Honors his job as the Enterprise's captain in 2011 -- and Hollywood never came calling.

Enterprise vs. Pirates, 2011

In its 50th year of existence, the Enterprise probably never expected to battle pirates. But that's what happened in February 2011, when Somali pirates who had captured an American yacht fired on the ship's Battle Group, prompting a tense standoff that led the pirates to kill their four American hostages. Sailors boarded the captured Quest, killed two pirates and detained another 13. "We express our deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously lost aboard the Quest," the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Gen. James Mattis, said at the time.

Photo: U.S. Navy

Enterprise Returns Home, 2012

After one last tour through the Mediterranean and Arabian seas -- including a stint launching warplanes over Afghanistan -- Enterprise returned to Norfolk on November 4 to prepare for its decommissioning ceremony. "This has not been a victory lap for Enterprise by any means," said the commander of its Strike Group, Rear Adm. Ted Carter. "We've seen the full spectrum of Navy operations on this deployment. It's been a business as usual kind of deployment."